The last VHS camcorder

[DVtyro]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I probably haven't seen any of your videos....I almost never watch any videos posted on the forums because usually I don't have enough time to watch a video while reading on here.

I think I've already posted a link to it, but just in case here it is: The format war that Beta has won. It describes the origins and the competition between M / MII on the one side, and Betacam / Betacam SP on the other side, with a couple of other contemporary formats mentioned.

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Could have sworn I heard about a broadcast format based on the VHS shell that could do HD.

Only the original M used real VHS cassette and tape. MII introduced a smaller cassette - so two cassettes total, small and medium - and switched to metal tape, and added extra grooves on the shell, so no VHS anymore. D3 introduced a third cassette size, so small, medium and large. D5 and D5 HD were the development of D3. JVC had D9 and Digital-S, I think their cassette was closer to the original VHS, fewer extra grooves, and I think their machines accepted standard VHS cassettes to play standard VHS off of them, but I don't know for sure.